News
In this section we will periodically upload documents related to drugs and harm reduction, reports about our activity, alerts detected by our International Drug Testing Service, adulterants in drugs… If you want to suggest us any subject to publish, or if you want to collaborate with us sending your own texts, please e-mail us.
Important update about GPG
As you may have noticed, over the past few months we are having long delays when communicating with GPG encrypted email. Our staff and resources are limited and there are many issues that require our immediate attention. But we know that privacy is very important when...
Important information about shipments
We have found that packages arriving from the USA and UK are charged import taxes at customs (between 10 and 20€). We do not always have people in the office to pay them. The best thing would be to specify that they are letters or documents and that they look like...
Recent Adware Attack on site
As you may have noticed, over the past few weeks we experienced some extended downtime, with browsers displaying warnings that our site was unsafe. We were, unfortunately, the target of a random attack that targets vulnerabilities in old PHP versions to replace some...
Back in Business & Overhaul
Trying to balance speed, precision and cost is a constant area of development for labs, and increasing one usually requires a trade-off from the others. At Energy Control, like most other harm reduction organizations, our goal is not to be as precise as possible, but...
Drug Crypto Markets at CND63
In early March, we presented our harm reduction work in drug crypto markets at the 63rd session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Viena. The Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) is the central policy-making body of the United Nations drug control structure. CND...
Update regarding COVID-19
How the current COVID-19 outbreak affects our service As you may know, Energy Control is based in Spain. On March 16th, 2020, the government declared a state of national alert and enacted confinement measures to slow down the spread of the virus. Among other measures,...
Delays with our HPLC analyses
Due to an upcoming cannabis related conference in the city of Barcelona, a large influx of cannabis samples is expected. Cannabis is analyzed with our HPLC, so the substances that are analyzed with the same instrument will be affected. This means that the analysis of...
Changes to how/when we quantify some substances
To reduce some of the strain that our constant growth has put on the analysis service, we will be shifting to a rolling schedule for quantifying certain substances that we do not receive very often. We routinely receive samples of cocaine and its adulterants,...
Back from the holidays
Happy New Year! We have just arrived from holidays and have an enormous backlog of samples to test. There will be some delays in receiving results while we catch up, but we will try our best to have them ready as soon as possible! Thank you for your patience, and feel...
Etizolam Quantification Available
We have acquired an etizolam reference standard, so our International Drug Checking Service is now able again to quantify etizolam samples. We offered etizolam quantification until 2018 but discontinued this service because of technical problems. Now, again, in...
Delay in some results in our International Drug Checking Service
UPDATE 20/5/19 We have finished our new High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS) tests and we hope to work normally in a few days. We know some users have suffered delays in PDF reports of some substances. We...
ALERT: Update on adulterated samples of ALPRAZOLAM
This is an alert from DoctorX & his Chemical Brothers and Sisters (International Energy Control) This report summarizes the changes detected by our International Drug Checking System (IDCS) during 2018 and first quarter of 2019, and updates our previous alert...
Use and abuse of Drug Checking by cryptomarkets vendors
This is an official statement by DoctorX & his Chemical Brothers and Sisters. 1.- Harm Reduction, Drug Checking and Cryptomarkets: Our International Drug Checking Service was launched in 2014 to expand Energy Control’s core Harm Reduction strategy...
ALERT: fake ALPRAZOLAM PILLS and POWDERS containing ANTIHISTAMINE mixture
This is an alert from DoctorX & his Chemical Brothers and Sisters. Our International Drug Checking Service has detected a dangerous adulteration in a serie of eight samples submitted as “alprazolam” for drug testing during the last month. Our analyses have...
ALERT: fake OXYCODONE tablets containing FENTANYL
This is an alert from DoctorX & his Chemical Brothers and Sisters. Our International Drug Checking Service has detected a dangerous adulteration in one of our samples submitted for drug testing. This sample was received in our headquarters on 28/Dic/2018,...
ALERT: “SKULL” pill with METHAMPHETAMINE and N-ETHYL-PENTYLONE
This is an alert from DoctorX & his Chemical Brothers and Sisters. Our International Drug Checking Service has detected a pill containing toxic adulterants.This sample was received in our headquarters on 10/Dic/2018, delivered from United States. It is an orange...
Ecstasy and MDMA aldulterated with N-Ethyl-Pentylone. A brief report
This is a brief report by DoctorX and his Chemical Brothers and Sisters covering available information about risks of N Ethyl-Pentylone, a novel and dangerous NPS recently detected as adulterant of MDMA pills and powders. Last month our Drug Checking...
First EC International Report: Heroin adulterated with fentanyl derivatives in cryptomarkets
This is the first of a series of periodic reports that will analyse and discuss the results of our Energy Control-International Drug Checking Service. This report is focused on the problem of heroin adulterated with fentanyl and fentanyl derivatives. Drug...
Identifcation and characterization of the new opioid derivative 3,4-dichloro-N-(2-(diethylamino)cyclohexyl)-N-methylbenzamide (U-49900)
This article focuses on the repercussions of scheduling NPS as they emerge on the "legal" market. Particularly U-49900, a synthetic opioid that is an analogue of U-47700 (which is itself an analog of an earlier now-banned opioid: AH-7921) It seems that demand for...
Identification and characterization of a putative new psychoactive substance, 2-(2-(4-chlorophenyl)acetamido)-3-methylbutanamide, in Spain
This article describes the identification and characterization of 2-(2-(4-chlorophenyl)acetamido)-3-methylbutanamide, a putative new psychoactive substance, through GC/MS, LC/MS, NMR, FTIR, UV, Single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and NMR. [button...
Something new about something old: a 10-year follow-up on classical and new psychoactive Tryptamines and results of analysis
This article explores the presence of tryptamines classified as NPS among the substances delivered for analysis to a harm-reduction organization, to describe the substances found in the samples after analysis, and to compare analytical results of regulated vs....
Patterns of use and toxicity of new para-halogenated substituted cathinones: 4-CMC (clephedrone), 4-CEC (4-chloroethcatinone) and 4-BMC (brephedrone)
This article presents results of the analysis of 3 NPS: clephedrone (4-CMC), 4-chloroethcathinone (4-CEC), and brephedrone (4-BMC) on recreational drug markets and a systematic review of all the available information concerning these substances. It presents the...
The detection and prevention of unintentional consumption of DOx and 25x-NBOMe at Portugal’s Boom Festival
This article describes the misrepresentation of LSD at Portugal's Boom Festival 2014 and the prevention of unintentional consumption of DOx and 25x-NBOMe among LSD consumers attending a drug-checking service. We found that the majority of service users who received...
The utility of drug checking services
The utility of drug checking services as monitoring tools and more: A response to Pirona et al. is a response to the article titled New psychoactive substances: Current health-related practices and challenges in responding to use and harms in Europe by Pirona et al....
Our International Drug Testing Service detects a dangerous mixture from Australia
After several deaths, poisonings and severe intoxications in several Melbourne (Australia) clubs in 15-17 January, we have received a sample of capsules sold as MDMA from Australia, related to these health problems. The complete drug testing has revealed the...
Energy Control National Drug Testing Service Report 2015
This report presents the synthetic substances, tested by Energy Control’s National Drug Checking Service, their adulteration and the users’ profile. This report summarizes results from Spain during 2015, and collects no data from our International Drug Testing Service...
How to go to a festival and not die in the attempt?
Year after year, when the summer comes, with the arrival of good weather, also comes the sound of live music festival rhythm throughout the whole territory. Festivals lasting several days, may involve some additional risks compared to a night / party session:...
Welcome to International Energy Control
Energy Control is a Spanish harm reduction project for recreational drug users. Since 1997, we develop harm reduction projects and, since then, we have been recognized and acknowledged by local, national and European institutions. Our Drug Checking Service, originally...